Matt Ritchie has a back catalogue few can rival when it comes to spectacular goals but here he perhaps added a new favourite with a strike so stunning that it would be a travesty if it fails to win an award. It was a fitting effort to match Bournemouth’s most convincing display yet in the Premier League. They are, it is fair to say, beginning to enjoy life in the top flight. Callum Wilson scored his fifth in six games, there were assured performances all over the pitch and a first clean sheet to boot.
The damage was done inside nine minutes, Ritchie’s volley coming five minutes after Wilson’s opener, and by the time Sunderland started fighting back in the second half, having blundered their way through the opening 45 minutes, it was already too late. They remain winless and their problems in both defence and attack show no sign of improving. “I am very, very angry with the players,” said manager Dick Advocaat. “And it’s not the first time. I will think about myself and what I did wrong but I also said to them that they need to, too. All my respect to Bournemouth, but there is no need to lose a game like this, in my opinion.”
It took only 210 seconds for the first crack to appear and Bournemouth ruthlessly punished them. Dan Gosling collected possession from a throw-in and, gliding forward, picked out Wilson on the edge of the area. The striker shook off Younès Kaboul, who was later sent off in a nightmare performance, with consummate ease before guiding a low finish past Costel Pantilimon. It was so simple from the hosts, so ragged from Sunderland.
While that could have been prevented, there was nothing that could have been done to stop Ritchie’s magic. Charlie Daniels’ corner was headed clear by Yann M’Vila but only to the winger 25 yards from goal. He chested the ball down and, in one fluid movement, unleashed a left-foot pearler that curled in to Pantilimon’s top-right corner, leaving the 6ft 8in keeper with no chance of reaching an impeccably placed attempt.
The Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, was not surprised, recalling a similar effort against Sheffield Wednesday last season. “He’s got an outstanding left foot and hits the ball so hard and cleanly,” Howe said. “Hopefully he gets the credit he deserves.”
Sunderland did grow into the game but the constant positional switches were baffling. Jermain Defoe was stationed on the right, left and up front at various points in the opening 25 minutes. He saw precious little of the ball in all three but when you are badly in need of a goal, it seems quite odd to have the player most likely to find the net stationed on the flank. When Defoe did get a sniff six minutes before half-time, capitalising on a Sylvain Distin slip, he was denied by Artur Boruc’s leg. A minute later Lee Tomlin drove straight at Pantilimon from 25 yards after M’Vila lost possession in midfield.
Kaboul’s nightmare continued and he was perhaps lucky to get away with only a yellow card after cynically dragging Wilson to the ground as the striker headed towards the area. He was the third of the back four to be booked before the break, following earlier fouls by Sebastián Coates and Billy Jones.
There were signs of encouragement early in the second half from Sunderland, and they should have pulled one back only for a terrible call from the assistant referee Eddie Smart. Jack Rodwell, on at half-time for Jordi Gómez, had a shot deflected from the cornerand Jeremain Lens turned in at the back post. Up went the flag but Lens was well onside. Sometimes it is just not your day. “It would have changed the game and maybe we needed a little luck with that but we have to look at ourselves, not the referee,” Advocaat said.
Fabio Borini attempted to mirror Ritchie’s volley on the hour but it flew over and as the clock ticked by Bournemouth re-established their control. The effervescent Marc Pugh close and Ritchie drove a free-kick over. Sunderland’s misery was compounded when Kaboul saw red for a lazy kick at Wilson, whose pace eventually proved too much, 15 minutes from time. The remainder was a stroll.
